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Nisekoi Review

This is review number three hundred and forty nine. This anime is part of the Winter 2014 lineup. The anime I’ll be reviewing is called Nisekoi or False Love or is it Fake Love? Either way, this is a twenty episode anime about a guy and a love triangle that turned into a square. Yeah. It’s not really that good. Let’s just read on.

Story

This anime is about two people that hate each other, but suddenly became boyfriend and girlfriend. Raku, the son of a yakuza leader, and Chitoge, the daughter of a mobster, were forced to act like a couple because they believe that it will end the boiling bad blood between the two gangs. For the sake of peace, the two reluctantly agreed. Chitoge doesn’t like it, but Raku hates it more because he already has his eyes set on someone. Raku also made a promise to a girl ten years ago, and he wants to make sure he is reunited with the girl. Funny thing about faith is that the answer might be closer than Raku might like.

Taking the Pants Off

I have heard a lot of interesting things about Nisekoi. I always think that good anime are often the ones being discussed long after their season aired, so I wanted to know what makes Nisekoi special. Is it the story? Is it the characters? I would even accept a stunning first episode as the cause of the hype. After watching the series though, I honestly don’t know what people liked in this show. I seriously don’t get it. I would sum up my experience with Nisekoi as simple. I mean that in the most insulting way. Nisekoi is insultingly simple. I understand what it’s trying to do, but I feel like the show thinks that its audience is all kids that don’t understand cliché story structure. I struggled finishing the twenty episodes of Nisekoi because it really has nothing new to offer. While I’m watching this show, I was honestly playing Plants versus Zombies with my cellphone. I only gave it half of my attention, and it didn’t really change the anime experience. The story is so simple that you can watch episode one to three then skip everything else and just jump into episode nineteen, and I guarantee that you can still understand what’s happening. To be fair, I feel that I am not Nisekoi’s target audience. It appeals to people that prefer simple stories that is loaded with cute moments. The show caters to an audience that doesn’t care much for a story as long as you deliver on the romantic moments that’ll get them giddy. In other words, Nisekoi appeals to people with short attention span. For the show to expect other anime fans to have the same attention span is insulting, and I hate the fact that it has a huge following because of it.

I’ll go right ahead and apologize to people that liked this show. I have reviewed three hundred plus shows, and I don’t half ass anything. I always dissect, examine and inspect every single thing that is worth exploring in an anime. As I keep doing that, I’ve come to expect a certain standards in how storytelling is delivered. You can always start with a simple premise, but the audience expects that to grow. I don’t really care if the progress is good or bad, but you need to grow out of your starting premise to keep the audience involved. A good example of a simple show like this is Watamote. It’s a simple premise of a girl wanting to have friends, but she keeps failing at it. The entire show revolves around her attempts, but there is growth there. The story and characters are fleshed out wonderfully, and it keeps the audience engaged. You’ll notice that the show still plays around with the same simple premise, but everything builds up into something more meaningful. Nisekoi doesn’t have this kind of “growth”. I noticed that it only teases growth, but it prefers to be in a comfortable stalemate with its story. It’s annoying, because at some point something has to give, but the show keeps dragging it on hoping that nothing would change. I’ve seen this kind of sh*t before though. The last annoyingly simple show I watched is f*cking School Days. Yeah, seriously. It’s as predictable as Nisekoi, and it also featured a love triangle that I really don’t like. It dragged on forever, and it honestly would’ve been a blurred memory if it wasn’t for the nice boat ending. So again, I apologize to people that liked this anime. I absolutely don’t like it mainly because it reminds me of School Days. You don’t really want to subject yourself to reliving the experience you have with School Days. No one should. It’s a form of torture in some obscure places on Earth. I have a lot of issues with this anime, but I still soldiered on because I have to do this review. I hate being TPAB for this reason alone.

So anyways, this anime is about a guy named Raku being forced to play pretend boyfriend to this girl named Chitoge. They’re doing this because they’re both from a gang family at war. To stop the impending city rumble, the fathers of the characters decided to link their children together. They thought that no one would want to spoil the good thing Raku and Chitoge had going. It’s a good plan, except Raku and Chitoge hates each other’s guts. They find the other annoying, and they really have to improve their acting skills to get people to buy their fake relationship. To make matters worse, people are always hounding them suspicious of their relationship. They now have to act all lovey-dovey every day for as long as they can stomach each other. Raku opposes their union so much, because he has his sights set on a cute timid girl named Kosaki. He has a crush on her ever since they met, and he’s been finding the courage to confess to her. The whole ordeal with Chitoge complicates matters though. To add to the whole mess, Kosaki is also in love with Raku but she’s holding herself back for Chitoge’s sake. The anime has now entered a familiar love triangle, and it only gets crazier from there. But wait, there’s more. The whole thing is tied up together with a story of Raku once keeping a promise to a girl he met ten years ago. He promised to keep a lock and the girl will keep the key. They promised to meet again and retrieve the thing inside the lock, and then they’ll get married. It’s a cute kid’s story, but it looks like the love triangle has the key among its madness.

I’ll admit that I love the premise, and the first few episodes were moving at the right direction. Sure, the cliché is already strong but I trust that it would gradually drop it over time. We have the simple hijinks story of two people, who hate each other, forced to be together and eventually learns to love each other. The love triangle also feels right. The relationship of all three characters looks interesting, because love triangles eventually transform into a giant mess. The setup of Nisekoi’s romance is designed to give us a really amazing mess. I’m talking about the truth being revealed, feelings being confessed, someone getting rejected and someone cutting Raku’s head and cradling it in a boat while the sun sets. Love triangles are utilized to really give us some strong romantic disasters that we can relish in. I felt that Nisekoi is doing it right in the first few episodes to really make the revelation as messy as possible. As it progresses, Chitoge would eventually let her guard down and get closer to Raku, Kosaki would get more aggressive in her approach, and Raku would realize he’s in a love triangle. It does feel like the show is utilizing as much cliché as possible, because we are treated to classics like falling on top of the girl, being locked in a room alone with a girl, and being carried piggy back by the guy but it’s understandable to feature as much cliché as possible for now. I trust the anime will eventually ran out of cliché to feature and then we’ll get right down to the nitty-gritty. After all, we’re already invested in the story at this point. After all the cliché, the characters are now peak to move on to the actual story. Let’s get this love triangle going, and give the audience that romantic car crash this wonderful romance promised.

Unfortunately things got a bit screwy after the fifth episode. In the first half, the show introduced all the supporting characters in an annoyingly slow manner. Kosaki’s friend, Ruri, has three episodes dedicated to all the hijinks she puts Kosaki in. She knows she likes Raku, so she’s trying to get the two together. It creates some blush filled moment, and it stirs the pot a bit. The problem is that the story seems to have stalled as we focus on Ruri. The romance’s build up stops for some reason, because the show wants to feature fluff episodes of Raku getting cute with the two girls. After setting up the love triangle, the rest of the episodes focus on simple situations for some cute moments to happen. I think we had a study session at Raku’s house, a pool episode and an exposition episode that features Ruri’s cunning moves at getting Kosaki close to Raku. While the characters are being fleshed out, the story seems to have lost its focus. Instead of intensifying the love triangle, it’s trying to drag it out by tediously focusing on the characters. Chitoge realized Raku saved her from drowning, Kosaki realized she can’t corner Raku to herself and Raku realized the key to his lock is among the cast but these individual character subplots doesn’t really amount to anything. As soon as the character resolved his/her personal problem, the show resumes its love triangle status quo as if nothing happened. So Chitoge thanked Raku in the most cutest tsundere way, Kosaki tries to overcome her shyness and get closer to Raku by herself and Raku found out who has a key that might fit his lock. What happens next? Naturally, Chitoge would drop her guard a bit, Kosaki as a character will be fleshed out more thoroughly and Raku would finally discover the girl that he is destined to marry. This can only lead to a more wonderful romantic car crash that the love triangle promised. The show doesn’t want that though. As soon as these little subplots are resolved, the status quo is unchanged. Chitoge still hates Raku’s guts, Kosaki is still the timid annoying girl and Raku still can’t get his lock open. Three episodes of build up only for the show to have the same status quo it started out with.

This is the problem with the anime. It keeps its status quo, despite teasing a progress in the story. The entire first half is just like this. It injects our characters in a clichéd situation, put them through a fleshing out process and then simply return to the same status quo where no one is close to banging anyone. It can get annoying, because you realize you’re at episode ten and nothing notable has happened yet. Even if something shocking happens, the show will try its best to numb its effect on the story in order to keep the status quo unchanged. I think Nisekoi simply wants the audience to enjoy the moments, and nothing else. The story is clearly shot dead, and it’s only teasing the audience that something juicy will happen if you keep on watching. It’s pretty insulting, but it does work pretty well. The biggest appeal of this anime is the fact that the moments are pretty satisfying. Once you realized that the story will never develop and the messy love triangle will never happen, it’s just fun seeing Raku and a girl create some wonderful moments together. Sure, its cliché ridden but it’s still a decent payoff for a show that simply doesn’t want to deliver on much. I don’t fully support this insulting idea Nisekoi has, but I can’t deny its effect. Raku would have some meaningful moments with Chitoge and Kosaki, and it does define the anime. It’s wish fulfillment, flirty romance and a dash of fan service in one memorable scene. Of course, the anime doesn’t incorporate these events to build up the story, but it’s a smart way to drag it to twenty episodes. I also appreciate this anime for appealing to a younger crowd. I get it. Nisekoi’s story isn’t for fans that have experience the awesomeness of Fruits Basket, To Love Ru and even School Days. Nisekoi is appealing to a crowd that has never heard of these titles, and I think it lends to Nisekoi’s success. It’s not doing anything new, but its bringing back solid clichés that won us over when we were young as well. Those feelings of giddy-ness as you’re seeing two characters act romantic, those moments your jaw drop when one of them confesses and those feelings of anger when you start to hate on one character because she’s acting like an idiot is nicely encapsulated in Nisekoi. It’s a first time experience for young viewers, and I get it. Of course, I would tell young kids to just shut up and watch Fruits Basket, but I’m sure they’ll discover these titles as well after experiencing Nisekoi. It’s an insulting show with tons of cliché, a stalled story and an annoying romance but it does serve a purpose in the long run.

I’m not done hating on this anime though. Impartiality can only take you so far, but it breaks when the show doesn’t even try anymore. Towards the second half, the show did run out of cliché to present. The things you can do with the love triangle have run its course, and the anime now has to properly feature this love triangle and develop the story. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do that. Instead of just developing the story and start gearing to that romantic car crash, the show decided to drop the love triangle all together. I mean, it already did that when it introduced Seishiro as another girl in love with Raku but they took it to another level. The love triangle has now morphed into a freaking harem. The pretense of romance is cut at this point. The pathetic attempt to drag the story and continue on with its lazy cliché ridden ways just got a lot more transparent when every single notable build up for the love triangle is dumped for a harem romance. You basically tried to invest in a story, got annoyed that the status quo is unchanged for ten episodes and then witness the whole thing dumped out for a new status quo. What the hell is this? When the fourth girl is introduced, it just signaled that the show has very little to offer. I didn’t mind a fourth girl or a harem actually, but at this late in the show I wanted something to develop. I wanted something meaningful, because seeing Raku just act cute with a girl has already lost its charm at this point. I don’t care if he sees one of them naked. Does it affect their relationship heavily that it changed the course of the story? No. So, what’s the point? Why should I invest when there’s very little pay off for me? For gawd sake, you can do so much with the characters and the story, but it’s becoming evidently clear that the show wants to milk as much moment out of these characters. It’s something you can churn out with very little effort, and that sentiment is so transparent that it’s another level of insult coming from this anime.

The second half featured a fourth girl, and she fits right in because she has a key of her own. I’ll give some points for the whole key thing. The story of Raku making a promise to one girl turned into harem when everyone got a key, but only one girl has the correct key that’ll fit his lock. Raku is now confused, because every girl has the same story of a promise made to a boy ten years ago. While the whole thing looks cheap and I rolled my eyes at the convenient amnesia, it is a decent pay off from this anime. Basically, the show is telling its viewers that the story has gotten stale at this point and you shouldn’t even bother. It’s a clear signal, since the rest of the second half just featured a hot spring episode, a beach episode and a cultural festival episode happening in that order.It is lazy f*cking writing at its best and, the only thing that has a hint of effort at this point is the story about the keys. While it isn’t really that good of a story, it’s still something that makes me show more fun. It injects life in the cliché harem and it makes the characters interesting knowing that one of them is the potential bride. There are still a lot of things that could’ve been done differently to make the show better, but it clearly just want to drag the story forever and keep on making cute moments for Raku and his harem. I don’t like this approach, because it’s just so damn uninspired. The fact that it’s popular saddens me. Well written shows often fade into obscurity, but shallow and cliché ridden ones like this get a huge following. What the hell is wrong with this world? It seems that people only watch things that are easy for them, and it just kills me inside. They don’t want to be challenged, and this show is proof that people only want dumb entertainment in their anime. Fine, I’ll accept that and move on. Nisekoi is literally dangling keys in front of us, and anime fans are bought into it easily. I feel like we’re all losers in the end, but it’s fine. I’ll simply accept it and move on.

The characters are pretty interesting, but it’s hard to get invested in them without a proper story. They’re really just unique because of their cliché, and not because of their circumstances in the story. It even comes to a point where the show exploits their personalities to create situations that audiences will find cute. Raku is probably the blandest character here, and it’s mainly because he has a harem to satisfy. Most harem leads doesn’t have a proper personality, because they just need to be a standup guy so his harem will fall for him. He’ll be nice, caring but also a bit straight forward when the situation calls for it. Aside from that, Raku is really nothing more than someone enjoying a harem. There’s this angle where he is the heir to a yakuza family, but the show doesn’t really utilize it. It only introduced that to setup the love triangle and it abandoned that concept afterwards. Wouldn’t it be cool if we focus more on how is life is so unusual because of his yakuza background? He tries to be normal because he knows he isn’t normal, and this is the reason why he only dreams of being with Kosaki. He knows deep down he isn’t the right man for her. Gawd damn, that felt sweet to write. Raku’s real motivations are different though, because he’s really just a guy that has a hard crush on someone. The show actually tried to flesh out Chitoge by using the fact that she is a gangster daughter, but the show abandons it easily as well. There’s this little subplot of Chitoge doing her best to be friendly with others, and it could’ve been a way to really setup her relationship with Raku, but it’s just wasted on the show. Instead of softening up this tsundere, she is just thrust into cute situations with Raku. She is forced in a lock room where she hugs Raku because she is scared of the dark, she is forced to get close to Raku so he wouldn’t get wet when they shared an umbrella, and she is forced to be with him because her father ordered her to. She isn’t really given a chance to actually act like a character you can invest in, because the show tries cheap tricks to make the audience fall for her. It might work on others, but it’s too transparent for me to really care about it.

I think the show didn’t really utilize the elements it already had. This is a RomCom Harem, and the show brings out the comedy through romantic situations using a group of girls that all likes Raku. That’s fine. The problem is that it doesn’t really use anything else. The romance is wasted, the comedy isn’t properly setup and the harem is really just there. A real gripping romance story makes the audience relate to the characters. This is done by doing two things: inner monologues and a reason to fall in love with someone. In Nisekoi, Raku just likes Kosaki but there’s no big reason for it. He tells us all the traits he likes about her, but it’s nothing more than an elementary crush with all those superficial reasons. I feel like we need a more substantial reason, so we can relate and then cheer for Raku to try and get Kosaki. He’s the son of a yakuza, and Kosaki is a timid girl. There’s something to work with here, and the show just needs to make it more official. Raku likes her, because of some stuff. Romance is also about the inner monologues. In order to really love a character, we need some backstories and vulnerable lines that’ll make us fall for them. Nisekoi doesn’t utilize this. It doesn’t develop its characters to the point that the audience can understand their longing for someone else. In the end, the romance the show is trying to tell just feels shallow. It isn’t anything personal, and it’s basically just saying “yeah, there is romance. It’s there, see. It’s the kind of romance that would be enough to create a cheap romcom story, and that’s fine since blushing characters looks interesting in panel form.” As for comedy, well, it’s entirely subjective so it doesn’t really matter how it’s delivered. The jokes are usually just cheap flirty moments between the characters, and it’s often mean spirited ones played on the viewers. There’s a scene where one of the girls cornered Raku and they almost kissed. Their faces slowly got closer and they’re ready to kiss, but then someone interrupted them and nothing really happens. It’s a joke. Did you get the punch line? It’s a joke played on you, the viewers, and I think that’s fine. If you don’t expect much from the anime, then it can’t really disappoint you. There are also scenes where misunderstanding causes some laughs, but it’s still done in a mean spirited fashion. Again, the comedy is fine since it’s a subjective thing. Could it have done a better form of comedy? Sure it can, but effort is something Nisekoi doesn’t like. This, in turn, really ruins the characters.

You have freaking Kana Hanazawa playing Kosaki. She can literally tell you a list of soups, and it’ll sound like the most beautiful thing in the world. Kosaki is a timid character, who has trouble grabbing an opportunity for herself. She is also too nice to really go after the one she loves, and she has some cool monologues but it isn’t enough. Kosaki is a character that is perfect for romantic inner monologues, and KanaHana has the voice to properly deliver it. She can make us care about Kosaki, and it’s a shame that it doesn’t really happen like that. She’s really just another character for Raku to have cute moments with, and that’s basically it. Her role in the love triangle isn’t even that pronounced, and it’s such a shame because I like the potential Kosaki has. The rest of the cast are all pretty decent as well, and some of them actually create opportunities for the love triangle to turn messy. Unfortunately, nothing really happens so it’s just cheap fun for the sake of fun. The fourth girl isn’t that interesting, to be honest. I felt like she’s just a tacked on character to make the character dynamic refreshing again. I like that she’s an aggressive character ready to flirt with Raku, but it doesn’t really matter when you know that the show has a hierarchy of girls and the fourth one is at the bottom.

I hate Shaft for making this popular. I’ll have to hand it to them though, because they’ve been molding new shows to look like Bakemonogatari and it looks like they found the perfect one for that. They can now proceed to milk Nisekoi as a strong franchise, since their monogatari milk machine is about to run dry. You can tell Shaft is trying to regain its Bakemonogatari audience with Nisekoi, and I think the stunt worked.People are in love with this series, and Shaft has a new series to exploit. I can’t wait for their transition though. I’m sick of the Shaft head tilt, and I hope it goes away now. I know it will, and Shaft knows it too, but it’s trying its best to make sure the change comes at a different time. As long as their process makes money, then Shaft won’t change. As long as Akiyuki Shinbo is making them money, then Shaft doesn’t need to think about changing. I’ll admit that I fell in love with Akiyuki Shinbo’s style when I saw Soredemo Machi wa Maitteru last year, and it reinvigorated my interest in anime. As I compare Shinbo from five years ago to today, I can tell he’s more fan service centric now. His visuals used to tell a story, but it’s now used to just make fan service. He now makes close up shots of a girl’s waist, ass and breasts for no reason. They’re talking and the close up is at her crotch. What the hell is that about? He also makes the characters twirl, and he is always this eccentric but it’s really just a way to make the girls look more appealing. I kinda like and hate the change in his style, but I think Shinbo is really just doing his thing because people like it. His unique style can win people over, and there’s no denying he’s one of the most talented anime directors walking on this earth today.

Sight and Sound

I want to punch Naoshi Komi in the face. I want to do that because he gave us this cliché lazy work, and I also want to hurt him because he has a punchable face. Just look at the guy, it pisses me off. I also want to punch him because he made Koi no Kamisama. This is a one shot, and it’s one of my favorite manga. Granted, I only really read one shots but it still hurts knowing that one of your favorite works is made by the dude that made this lazy uninspired manga. I understand the direction he took with Nisekoi though. It’s serialized in Shounen Jump, so the demographic is more teen male centered. The romantic elements need to be downplayed and the story needs to be easy to consume, and it’s the necessary edits in order to stay published in such a prestigious weekly publication. This isn’t a romcom for the shoujo crowd. No, it’s for the same demographic as One Piece and I want to punch him more now because I understand why this anime is now so popular yet lazily presented. Shounen Jump has a target audience of teen boys, and to have your romance story featured in it since 2011 is an unbelievable feat. I want to clock him now even more because I am jealous of his success. Of course, I still think Nisekoi sucks but I respect the decisions made to make it such uninspired garbage.

Character design is pretty much like the anime. I love how the show captured the nuance that Naoshi has in his manga. I also think that Naoshi is a pretty talented artist, because his characters are just gorgeous to look at. The panels are so incredibly detailed, and the character expressions are so well done. Most of Raku’s scenes are just him reacting to something, and the design really works to deliver those reactions perfectly. I must say that Naoshi’s design is a lot more masculine in the manga. Raku looks a lot cooler in the manga, mainly because he has subtle attributes of a shounen hero. The heavy inking and the expressive eyes really give you an impression that he should be carrying a sword with him. I also don’t notice the hair clip on his head. I’m not sure if the anime added it or not, but he certainly looks a lot better without an “X” in his hair. I think Naoshi’s design really stands out because he gives attention to the entire body. You know how most artists draw real people and real body proportions so they can make better comics. I think Naoshi does the same thing. It shows, because Raku’s design is so detailed that every single element looks impressive. His pose, his stance, his height, his proportions and everything else just stays consistent in the manga. Even when Naoshi starts playing with the angles, you can tell the subtle elements remain consistent, and it’s a big reason why it’s so easy to be attracted to his characters. This style works ten times better in his female characters. Proportion, height and pose are something he does extremely well with Chitoge. I love how her curves are so pronounced even if she’s wearing her uniform, and it gets crazier when she’s in her bikini. Naoshi loves to flaunt Chitoge to his readers and there’s a big reason for that. She just looks so damn interesting that I honestly wish I can draw like that guy. He doesn’t have a lot of range, in terms of characters, but that’s OK. Seeing Chitoge littered all throughout his manga is enough to really make the experience worth it. I think it’s a big reason why the manga is popular. The story might suck, and it still does in the manga, but the visuals are outstanding. It’s like watching a Makoto Shinkai movie. Yeah, it’s the same love story we’ve seen before but the visuals are so breath taking that you stay just to see more of it. The same goes for Nisekoi’s original source. The visuals are so strong that it’s the main thing carrying the series. The romance and comedy can be downplayed, because there’s a reasonable amount of fan service in the harem to keep you interested. This didn’t translate well in the anime.

Without Naoshi’s incredibly detailed style, Nisekoi’s flaws are easily recognized. Shaft’s animation doesn’t really help as well. It did follow the manga to a tee, but it lacked the impressive visuals of the original source. It’s replaced by Bakemonogatari inspired visuals and the annoying Shaft head tilt. Is the animation good though? Yes, but it’s not enough to elevate the anime. It’s the same grandiose style Akiyuki is known for, but I’ll admit it’s more restrained here. Akiyuki likes to go big, and he loves confusing his audience. He mostly does this because he knows the solid story makes his style memorable. Nisekoi has sh*t story though, so he has to make it slightly different than his usual style. First of all, he doesn’t utilize empty spaces as much. He loves his empty spaces where only the characters are alive in it, but he floods it with background characters now in Nisekoi. I think it makes true empty moments, with just the characters, more thrilling to watch and it’s shocking knowing that he can restrain himself like that. Again, the fan service is stronger in this series and it does make his style different here. Akiyuki is no stranger to weird fan service, like the toothbrush scene in Nisemonogatari, but I think he realized that people want what Naoshi presented in the manga so he had to comply with it. Thirdly, I also find it interesting how digitalize his animation is now. Five years ago, cell animation is different so seeing a director doing it for so long change to a different vehicle just feels weird. It also enhances his storytelling though, and it’s a shame it’s wasted on this anime. Animation is pretty decent. The movements are able to properly represent the characters, but I just wished it didn’t go to the Shaft filter. It didn’t need to, really.

The anime has two OP. The first one is “CLICK” by ClariS. It’s a really cute song, and I think I mostly love it because of its rhythm. The lyrics are pretty decent as it tells about someone having her feelings locked away only for the key to unlock it. It certainly does capture the feeling of the show, and it’s only made more special by the OP sequence. It features Raku going to school, and he meets up with his friends somewhere along the way. It features all the girls looking cute as hell, as a teaser for the other harem to appear. If you’re following the manga, then you’ll be instantly hyped knowing how the show will handle the manga. For someone like me, it does make me curious so go try the OP in youtube if you want a taste of the anime. The second OP is “STEP” by ClariS. It’s as good as the first OP song, and it’s about being in love with someone. I didn’t listen much to the song though, because I mostly focused on the wonderful OP sequence. It features the characters planning a trip, Raku missing the train and Seishiro helping him only for him to meet the mysterious girl he made a promise with ten years ago. I’ve invested myself in this anime, and I think this OP sequence captured all the great things about the series. Actually, it’s better than the story especially with the OP sequence coming out in the second half where the show basically gave up.

The anime has a lot of ED songs. It’s like Bakemonogatari where every girl gets a chance to sing, but I think the novelty is a bit cheap here. It’s just me though, because I’m quite sick of Shaft trying to force their shows into a monogatari series. Anyways, they’re all pretty great songs. Each girl has one song, and I think they captured the girl’s personality and predicament pretty well. My favorite is Kosaki’s because KanaHana singing is like pouring sweet honey in your ear. They’re all really good, and I think it’s better if you take a listen to them all. I don’t want to go by each one. I’m tired. Leave me alone.

Overall Score

7/10 “It’s cliché, predictable and boring…but it still entertains in a simple manner.”

I still stand by the fact that it’s insultingly simple. It doesn’t challenge the audience, and it got lazy at the end. I understand why this particular series is delivered like such though, but I still don’t like it. It has potential to be so much more. If you like simple shows though, especially romcom then you’ll like this anime. If you like a character driven show then there’s something here for you. Don’t expect a good story though, and lower your expectations because this show will most likely disappoint. It’s still entertaining, but for entirely different reasons that you’ll like in most conventional anime.

Though it is a love triangle the author has given more importance to chitoge more than onodera. Chitoge getting always more alone time to spend with Raku cuz of their fake relationship whereas onodera mostly gets to be with him in the presence of others. Even I agree that the story had a good beginning but is now being dragged un- necessarily. Its more of onodera vs chitoge now and people are more curious as to who would win. But from what I understand from the story I believe that though Onodera will have the key to the locket Raku will choose Chitoge which is very much evident from the way the author is biased towards chitoge. What are your thoughts?

I honestly stopped caring about who will end up with the guy after a fourth girl is introduced. It means that there is a possibility that more girls will be included like a fifth and a sixth just to lengthen the meaningless story. The author did it a lot in the first season that I just lost interest. I’ll change my opinion when I see season 2.
But yeah, I think Chitoge has always been the true girl. I’m an Onodera fan though.

You dint’ read the manga den? Even I like Onodera. She seems more mature and stable unlike Chitoge. I had seriously wished Raku had more episodes with Onodera. I want her to win but I don’t think its gonna happen.:-(

No, I don’t read manga. Are there more girls? lol.
The manga recently ended though, right? Did he chose Chitoge?
I like Onodera in short bursts, but she can be annoying sometimes. The entire story wouldn’t need a second season if she just confessed before Chitoge pretended to be Raku’s gf. But tha’ts just my opinion.

Yeah Fifth girl.. Yui.. Actually I dint’ read the whole manga.. just drags the hell out of me.. Too slow.. After I watched the anime was curious to check who he chose so went directly to the latest chapter. By then he realizes he likes both but uncertain who to choose. At present all end up in the promised place and they remember that the key was actually with Chitoge but then when she overhears raku and ono confessing their love gives it over to ono.. But its not final who he chooses.. Its still being dragged since the past 5-6 chapters.. Now I’m planning to read after 2 months.. Hope by then its settled. Lol.. Even I don’t read manga.. only this and bleach.. I fell the emotions don’t get across in Manga and plus its colorless. I agree with you about Ono’s personality, but had she confessed prior to the fake relationship there would not have been a story only den. lol. I wont tel you the ending thou.. don’t want to spoil your second season anime.
You reply faithfully to all the messages.. Happy that I got someone to discuss about anime.. The place I’m from hardly 0.0000001 watch anime. and they laugh at you for doing the same.. Adigatho (Not sure if I spelled it rite).. lol

So there is a fifth girl. Good gawd, it makes me not excited for the second season but we shall see.
From the way you describe it, at least the setup to the ending sounds cute. I just hope someone kisses in the second season I don’t care if Raku chooses someone, I just want to see him kiss one or two girls. Anyone is fine with at this point.
I like comments in my review lol, and I reply to them as long as they’re not troll comments. XD